Hicca paced her cage. Toothless was alive! For now.

She gulped nervously, 'For now.'

She had to figure out a way to escape along with Toothless. The main issue was that she had no idea where they were keeping him. Escaping this cage and her current guard would be simple, finding Toothless? Not as easy.

'Not to mention,' she mumbled to herself, 'he's probably hurt after that fall.' She worried on her lower lip. 'What if something happened to his wings?' She exclaimed, 'His tail?' How would she fix that? What if those monsters were doing horrible things to him? What if they chopped off his tail to ensure he couldn't escape?

Hicca drew a nervous hand through her hair; they'd never be able to escape if that was the case.

They'd never be able to fly again.

Hicca resolved to not think about such things and focus wholly on finding Toothless. 'But how do I get to him?' she asked herself, gesturing wildly with her hands. 'I mean, I can't just go asking around.' She heightened her voice in mock innocence, '"Excuse me, but where might I find my dragon?"'

The Viking that had been assigned as her guard for the time-being shifted uncomfortably. This crazy dragon girl kept making all of these weird, rumbly dragon sounds. He jumped as the girl cried out and slapped her forehead. He swallowed, maybe those rumors about the girl being some sort of witch were correct...

'Well,' Hicca murmured, 'considering it was violence that got me into this mess, I highly doubt it's going to get me out.' But how in the world was she going to use the diplomatic approach with a bunch of Vikings?

'I'm certainly not going to help them find the nest,' she grumbled. 'Although that nasty queen could use a good whipping.' Why did some dragon alphas insist on being cruel when being kind was easily the better option?

Hicca snorted, 'Not that a few Vikings would stand a chance against her anyway.' Hicca groaned loudly and rubbed her hands over her face roughly. As she pulled her hands away, something incredibly stupid yet incredibly tempting popped into her head. 'What if,' she muttered, 'I make them like...' She paused and took a glance at her guard. He jumped and his eyes widened in surprise as she stared him down.

'Could I make you love dragons?'

Heavens, the idea seemed so far-fetched to her. She'd never even though it a possibility. Like holding up a fish to a dragon and telling them to be best friends. Incredibly stupid. Incredibly impossible.

But...

Wasn't she, technically, a human?

Hicca bristled at the idea. She'd never thought of herself as a human before, not really, anyway. In fact, the very concept made her sick to her stomach. No matter how much she wished otherwise, though, she came in a human package. Humans are cruel. They are vile. Evil.

But if that's true...

Then wasn't she the exact same?

Her brows knit together and she stared down at her hands. 'Is that me?' She asked.

Or maybe.

Maybe...

They just didn't know any better.

If she could just teach them. She remembered the hairy chief and how obviously set-in-his-ways he was. It would be impossible to change the minds of such stubborn people. She plopped down with a huff. It's impossible. She'd just have to sneak away and... somehow magically find Toothless and set him free and...

'Uuuuughhhhh.'

Feeling restless and uncomfortable, Hicca shifted her legs and brought them up to her chest instead, wrapping her arms around them. Speaking of that chief, who was he? Why had he looked so familiar. Why did he make her feel so... sad?

'No,' she mumbled, 'not sad.' Hicca heaved a sigh before letting her head fall to the floor. "Who is he?" was the question on her mind as she fell into and exhausted slumber.

Asher solemnly chewed on a piece of fish. This was the end for him, he knew it. He was being used as a means to seduce the location of the dragons' nest from a woman who gave him one of the worst migraines of his life and kicked him in the balls.

Odin help him.

He was supposed to take the evening shift for guarding her and get her to like him. How was he supposed to do that? He wasn't the most personable human being. Let alone the fact that he already had something of a bad past with her. How was he supposed to get her to like him?

Asher stifled a groan as he finished up the last of his fish. How was he supposed to pretend to like her?

Grumbling a multitude of curses, Asher made his way down to the extra cages. That brat. She'll probably try and kick him again. Great Thor, the very thought of her made him twitch in annoyance. How was he supposed to be civil with her? Let alone make her like him. Gods, he wasn't even charming.

Why oh why couldn't this be solved with force?

Asher stalked into the "dungeons," which were dragon cells carved into the walls of a cavern close to the training ring. He swiftly relieved her previous guard who had seemed all too happy to leave. Asher furrowed his eyebrows in confusion; what had she done to the poor man?

Brusquely, he made his way over to the dinky little stool pressed up against the dirt walls and sat down. He wasn't quiet or delicate in either of these actions which, in turn, seemed to wake the dragon girl from her slumber. He watched her sit up in a hurry with a small yelp. Asher bit back a chuckle. It was like seeing a sleeping puppy wake up from being startled by its own snores.

He watched as she scrubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned. The auburn mop on her head was even messier than before. How was that even possible? Gods, he wanted to fix it. It was so messy it grated uncomfortably on his nerves. He was a man, a Viking, and he still managed to keep himself well-groomed. Asher grit his teeth. Her hair looked so messy and- and imperfect. He wanted to fix it. He really wanted to fix it.

While Asher was having a mental break down over how messy her hair was, the dragon girl had begun staring at him. Tilting her head slightly, she asked him, "What is your name?"

Her words snapped him out of his internal rant and he looked her in the eyes. I guess I should probably tell her, he thought to himself. If I'm to gain her 'trust.'

"Asher," he mumbled. She made small noise in acknowledgement and continued her staring. Asher felt the corner of his mouth tilt down ever so slightly from her rudeness. "And your name is...?"

She seemed to perk up at that and made a strange noise. It started as a sharp exhale, followed by a soft click, and then ending with a diluted cooing sound. Asher's fingers twitched; she had sounded like a dragon.

In an attempt to cover up how uncomfortable that had made him, Asher scoffed lightly into his fist and asked, "In Norse, please?"

The woman blinked surprise at that. Her mouth flapped hopelessly a couple of times before her face screwed up in thought and her hand rested decidedly on her chin. After a few moments a sound finally erupted from her throat.

"Hhhhiii..." she started, "kk-uuhh." Asher raised a brow at the strange display. Quietly he watched her struggle through a few more attempts before supplying, "Hiccup?" It was honestly the first word that popped into his head from her struggles.

Her green eyes turned to his blue and she shrugged whilst nodding her head. "That sounds fine."

Asher didn't even try and hold back his snort of amusement.

Hiccup's- well, he guessed that was her name- eyebrows rose at his rare show of mirth, and after her brief moment of shock, her mouth turned up in a toothy half-smile.

Well, Asher pondered, maybe managing to be personable won't be too hard.

Hiccup scooted towards the the door of her cage on her rump and leaned forward. "Is my dragon well?"

Scratch that earlier thought.

"Alive," he stated shortly and glowered into her big, puppy dog eyes- wait. The longer he stared at her the more pathetic she seemed to look, and- good Thor, were those tears?

Was she seriously going to start crying over a blood-thirsty dragon?

Hiccup gulped and squeaked out, "Is he hurt?"

"I don't know," and he honestly didn't. There had been no time to go gawk at the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself.' He'd been busy helping to rebuild the village, again.

What was that? Third time this month?

He watched as her eyes fell to her hands, whole body slumping forward. "I understand," she mumbled before turning away from him and lying down.

They didn't bother talking for the rest of his time guarding her, but throughout that time, Asher started thinking much more about the deadly black lizard locked away on the island...